In the KaiZone Friday Favorites, I present my top ten favorite articles from the last week (give or take a few days) in the world of Lean – and beyond. With leading content from the world’s foremost improvement authors and future Lean leaders, I do the research so you don’t have to!
10. Did Toyota Fool the Lean Community for Decades? by Emiel Van Est & Pascal Pollet. “In the Lean community, we admire Taiichi Ohno for his role in the development of the Toyota Production System. Get ready to admire him even more!”
9. Overproduction in the Auto Industry (and Healthcare) by Mark Graban. “Accounting rules also make it seem like it’s cheaper, per vehicle, to produce more, as we’re spreading out fixed costs, including capital and overhead, across a greater number of vehicles… product that customers aren’t buying. Crazy… but rational given the rules of the game.”
8. Debunking Standard Cost: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 by Nick Katko. “Turning off standard cost is possible in any company, no matter how large or how small it is. It is just a matter of the vision and willpower of the leadership in the company.”
7. Big Data, Small Data by Kevin Meyer. “Just as we now find it ludicrous to talk of “big software” – as if size in itself were a measure of value – we should, and will one day, find it equally odd to talk of “big data”. Size in itself doesn’t matter – what matters is having the data, of whatever size, that helps us solve a problem or address the question we have.”
6. The Four Levels of Visual Management: Part 1, Part 2 by Pascal Dennis. “Who is the best source of Level 3 and 4 visual management? Why, our front line team members, of course. That’s why total involvement is critical. Alienate the front line and you lose all their insight & creativity. Problems mushroom! But you already know that…”
5. Compression, Immediacy and the Death of the Iron Triangle by Matthew May. “In the age of immediacy, the old idea of the Iron Triangle–you know, that given quality, cost and speed you can have two, but not all three–is simply irrelevant. In fact, it’s been dead for quite a while for any entity that we’d properly label disruptively innovative…point to any product, service, or company you think of as a true groundbreaker, and tell me that haven’t put a nail in the coffin of the Iron Triangle.”
4. Forget About the Toyota House of Quality by Dan Markovitz. “It doesn’t matter what the pillars are, or what the roof is, or what blocks are in the foundation. You have to choose the structure that makes sense for your company. The concepts and elements are what’s important, not where they go.”
3. Is History Repeating Itself? by Bob Emiliani. “I am disappointed that, in general, the generation of executives who could have done the most good with Lean management did more harm that I ever expected they would. The baby boomers have learned little about Lean management and have essentially nothing to pass on to the next generation, who are left to discover the merits of Lean management for themselves – assuming they can overcome all the negatives resulting from “Lean done wrong” by their predecessors.”
2. The Human Element of TWI by Patrick Graupp. “Running an organization that truly respects its people and works on company culture first, before trying to implement tools that work on the production system, is a lesson that most organizations miss. Without the enthusiastic participation of people, in particular those people who actually do the work, we will not get the “buy-in” necessary to see that needed changes actually take place and are sustained. “
And, in an excellent week for Lean and continuous improvement posts, this week’s Friday Favorite goes to . . .
1. Ask Art: How Much Lean Training Should We Be Doing? by Art Byrne. “I learned how to run a kaizen directly from the Shingijustu Company (men who spent years working directly for Taiichi Ohno at Toyota). They had a rather dramatic approach. “What do you want to work on?” they would ask me, and when I replied, their response was, “Ok, let’s go, start moving equipment and start a cell.” This was shocking, and it worked. As we went along with this, they taught us the organization, structure, tools, and materials needed to run a kaizen. But it all started simply, on the shop floor. See the waste, eliminate the waste, right now.”
Do you have an article that you’d like to share with The KaiZone community? Post it in the comments section below. Have a great weekend, friends!
Also, don’t forget about The KaiZone Contest: Make Your Own Leanable Moment.
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